Content consumers may have collections of media content, such as libraries of music. Those collections may be stored in local computers, or in remote servers, or in portable media devices. Consumers may also have arranged their content into playlists to create a certain listening experience. Moreover, consumers may have various content management tools and media players to arrange and play their content. Consumers do not, however, typically have the resources, skill or experience to create professional-sounding or radio-like listening experiences. Similarly, consumer-generated playlists typically provide a more monotonous listening experience, i.e., an all-music listening experience. And, consumers typically do not have the time or resources to add perishable content to their listening experience, such as news updates or weather reports.
Radio broadcasters, on the other hand, typically have the resources, skill and experience to create professional-sounding and radio-like listening experiences, e.g., radio broadcasts. Such broadcasts may provide a variety of content arranged so as to maintain consumer interest. For example, a jazz music radio broadcast may play a selection of music by a variety of jazz artists having diverse jazz styles. The jazz music may be interspersed with a generally pleasing mix of radio host commentary, advertisements, weather reports, news reports, station jingles, and the like. Also, each song or music element in the jazz broadcast may be mixed and edited to provide generally pleasing transitions, e.g., cross-fades and voiceovers. However, because radio broadcasters generally develop broadcast programs for a large audience, the broadcast programs may not be as fully pleasing or customized to an individual listener as the listener would like.
Some broadcasters provide an Internet broadcast that allows consumers to select content to listen to, whether by artist, genre, style, and the like, yet still comply with various regulations, e.g., those promulgated under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), and rights management schemes, e.g., digital rights management (“DRM”). However, such broadcasts may suffer from the same sort of monotony associated with consumer-created playlists, and may fail to allow any further listener customization.
Additionally, many organizations typically do not have the resources or expertise to distribute content to their constituents. Organizations need a way to distribute content to their constituents in such a way and by such means that the constituent will receive and consume the content in a timely manner. For example, if a business desires to distribute an audio message from an executive, the business may circulate an email with information on how a user may listen to the message, e.g., by going online and downloading the message for playback, and urge the consumer to do so. However, many constituents may view those steps as too much of a hassle, and simply not listen to the message. Similarly, a church organization may desire a better way to distribute bulletin items or sermons.
Thus, there is a need for better systems and methods for engaging content consumers.